one's own way, to follow one's own tastes, to please one's self, to have things to one's mind, not to be thwarted, to indulge in the comforts of life, to do little for GOD, to think of HIM now and then indeed, but to live to this world; to aim at things of this world; to judge of things by our own accidental judgment, be it better or worse; to measure religious men, to decide upon right or wrong in religion by our favourite fancy; to take a pride in forming and maintaining our own opinion; to stand upon our rights; to fear the hard words and cold looks of men, to be afraid of being too religious, to dread singularity; to leave our hearts and minds, our thoughts, words, and actions, to take care of themselves :—this, on one side or the other, in this measure or that, is the sort of character which the multitude, even of what are called respectable men, exhibit; and no wonder, this being the case, that they speak against those who have, or strive to have, a more serious view of religion, and whose mode of living condemns them. If there be but one character of heart that can please GoD, both of these contrary characters cannot please HIM, one or the other does not; if the easy religion is right, the strict religion is wrong; if strict religion is right, easy religion is wrong. Let us not deceive ourselves; there are not two ways of salvation-a broad and a narrow. The world, which chooses the broad way, in consequence hates and spurns the narrow way; and in turn our Blessed LORD, who has chosen for us the narrow way, hates, scorns, spurns,

denounces, the broad way. Surely He does so; He hates the broad way as entirely as the world hates the narrow way; and if we are persuaded to take part with the world, we take part against HIM. When St. Peter said, "Be it far from THEE, LORD," being shocked at the notice that his LORD should suffer, what was His answer? Did He thank him for his zeal? Did HE, at least, let it pass in silence? He answered, "Get thee behind ME, Satan, for thou art an offence unto ME; for thou savourest not the things that be of GOD, but those that be of men "." And in like manner to the corrupt church of Laodicea He says, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will cast thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not, that thou art wretched

9 Matt. xvi. 23.

and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of ME gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." And then HE adds: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten ;" that is, He puts on them His yoke; "Be zealous therefore and repent '."

To conclude. If ALMIGHTY GOD moves any of us, so that we have high thoughts; if from reading Scripture or holy books we find that we can embrace views above the world; if it is given us to recognize the glory of CHRIST's kingdom, to discern its spiritual nature, to admire the life of saints, and to desire to imitate it; if we feel and understand that it is good to bear the yoke in our youth, good to be in trouble, good to be poor, good to be in low estate, good to be despised; if in imagination we put ourselves at the feet of those mortified men of old time, who, after St. Paul's pattern, died daily, and knew no one after the flesh; if we feel all this, and are conscious we feel it; let us not boast-why? because of a surety such feelings are a pledge to us that God will in some way or other give them exercise. He gives them to us that He may use them. He gives us the opportunity of using them. Dare not to indulge in high thoughts; be cautious of them, and refrain; they are the shadows of coming trials; they are not given for nothing; they are given for an end; that end is coming. My brethren, count the cost; never does God give faith but He tries it; never does HE implant the wish to sit on His right hand and on His left, but He fulfils it by making us wash our brethren's feet. O fearful imaginations, which are sure to be realized! O dangerous wishes, which are heard and forthwith answered! Only may God temper things to us, that nothing may be beyond our strength!

1 Rev. iii. 16-19.

SERMON CXXXVII.

MOSES THE TYPE OF CHRIST.

DEUT. xviii. 15.

"The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto HIM ye shall hearken."

THE history of Moses is valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards GOD, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our SAVIOUR CHRIST. No prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till CHRIST came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled-"The LORD thy GOD," says Moses, "shall raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto me:" that was CHRIST. Now let us consider in what respects Moses resembled CHRIST; we shall find that this inquiry very suitable at this time of year1.

is

1. First, if we survey the general history of the Israelites, we shall find that it is a picture of man's history as the dispensation of the Gospel displays it to us, and that in it Moses takes the place of CHRIST. The Israelites were in the land of strangers, viz. the Egyptians; they were slaves, hardly tasked, and wretched, and GOD broke their bonds, led them out of Egypt, after many perils, to the promised land, Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. How clearly this prefigures to us the condition of the Christian Church! We are by nature in a strange country; God was our first FATHER, and His Presence our dwelling-place: but we were cast out of paradise for sinning, and are in a dreary land, a valley

1 Lent.

of darkness and the shadow of death. We are born in this spiritual Egypt, the land of strangers. Still we have old recollections about us, and broken traditions, of our original happiness and dignity as freemen. Thoughts come across us from time to time which show that we were born for better things than to be slaves; yet by nature slaves we are, slaves to the Devil. He is our hard task-master, as Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites; so much the worse than he, in that his chains, though we do not see them, grow more and more heavy every year. They cling about us and grow; they multiply themselves, they shoot out and spread forth, and encircle us, those chains of sin, with many links, minute but heavy, weighing us down to the earth, till at last we are mere slaves of the soil, an evil husbandry, slaves of that fearful harvest which is eternal death. Satan is a tyrant over us, and it seems to us useless to rebel. If we attempt it, we are but overpowered by his huge might, and his oppressive rule, and are made twice the children of hell we were before: we may groan and look about, but we cannot fly from his country. Such is our state by

nature.

But Moses conducted the Israelites from the house of bondage to their own land, from which their fathers had descended into Egypt. He came to them from GoD, and, armed with God's power, he smote their cruel enemies, led them out of Pharaoh's land, divided the Red Sea, carried them through it, and at length brought them to the borders of Canaan. And who is it that has done this for us Christians? Who but the Eternal Son of GOD, our LORD and SAVIOUR, whose name in consequence we bear? He has rescued us from the arm of him who was stronger than we; and therefore I say in this respect first of all, CHRIST is a second Moses, and a greater. CHRIST has broken the power of the Devil. He leads us forth on our way, and makes a path through all difficulties, that we may go forward towards heaven. Most men, who have deliberately turned their hearts to seek God, must recollect times when the view of the difficulties which lay before them, and of their own weakness, nearly made them sink through fear. Then they were like the children of Israel on the How boisterous did the waves look! and they could not see beyond them; they seemed taken by their enemies as in a net. Pharaoh with his horsemen hurried on to

shore of the Red Sea.

reclaim his runaway slaves; the Israelites sank down in terror on the sand of the sea-shore; every moment brought death or captivity nearer to them. Then it was that Moses said, “Stand still, and see the salvation of GOD." And in like manner has CHRIST spoken to us. When our hearts fainted within us, when we said to ourselves," How is it possible that we should attain heaven?" When we felt how desirable it was to serve God, but felt keenly the power of temptation; when we acknowledged in our hearts that God was holy and most adorable, and obedience to His will most lovely and admirable, and yet recollected instances of our past disobedience, and feared lest all our renewed resolutions to serve HIм would be broken and swept away by the old Adam as mercilessly as heretofore, and that Satan would regain us, and yet prayed earnestly to God for His saving help; then He saved us against our fear, surprising us by the strangeness of our salvation. This, I say, many a one must recollect in his own case. It happens to Christians not once, but again and again through life. Troubles are lightened, trials are surmounted, fears disappear. We are enabled to do things above our strength by trusting to CHRIST; we overcome our most urgent sins, we surrender our most innocent wishes; we conquer ourselves; we make a way through the powers of the world, the flesh, and the devil; the waves divide, and our LORD, the great Captain of our salvation, leads us over. CHRIST, then, is a second Moses, and greater than he, inasmuch as CHRIST leads from hell to heaven, as Moses led the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.

2. Next, CHRIST reveals to us the will of God, as Moses to the Israelites. He is our Prophet, as well as our REDEEMER. None was so favoured as Moses in this respect: before CHRIST came, Moses alone saw GOD face to face; all prophets after him but heard His voice or saw HIM in vision. Samuel was called by name, but he knew not who called him in the dark night till Eli told him. Isaiah saw the vision of the Seraphim, and heard them cry" holy" before the LORD; but it was not heaven that he saw, but the mere semblance of the earthly temple in which GOD dwelt among the Jews, and clouds filled it. But Moses in some sense saw GOD and lived; thus GOD honoured him. "If there be a prophet among you," said ALMIGHTY GOD, I, the LORD,